MUSIC FESTIVALS’ GLARING WOMAN PROBLEM

Can you guess the gender breakdown of performers at music festivals?

Women artists are hugely underrepresented on the summer music festival circuit. To find out why, and to see if the gaps were as large as we thought, HuffPost collected the lineups of 10 major music festivals for the past five years.

HOW BAD IS THE GENDER BREAKDOWN, REALLY?

Move the sliders to pick what percentage you think each group makes up for all the 2016 festivals we looked at.

20%60%80%100%Acts with only menActs with only womenMixed-gender groups40%0%21%74%5%

YOUR GUESS

YOUR GUESS

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SHOW ANSWERS

THE REALITY

For the 10 festivals we looked at, women artists (single performers or all-women groups) made up only 12 percent of acts in 2016 — compared to 78 percent male performers (single or all-male groups). Your guess is marked in — pink.

Half of the people who attend music festivals are women, but across the festivals we looked at, the percent of women performers (single artists and all-women groups) hovered between 5 and 19 percent. Mixed-gender groups fared slightly better, but not by much. The percent of male performers (single or all-male groups) bottomed out at 66 — most festivals had an even higher percentage of men.

Some festivals have more female performers this year than they have in the past. But not a single one is even close to acheiving gender parity in its lineup.

Acts with only men

Acts with only women

Mixed-gender groups

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Source: HuffPost analysis of festival lineups. Note: For fewer than 1 percent of the acts in festival lineups in the last five years, we could not determine the gender breakdown, and those acts are not included in these charts. Read our methodology.

Some festivals have more female performers this year than they have in the past. But not a single one is even close to acheiving gender parity in its lineup.

Acts with only men

Acts with only women

Mixed-gender groups

BONNAROO

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

COACHELLA

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

ELECTRIC FOREST

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

ELECTRIC ZOO

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

FIREFLY

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

GOVERNORS BALL

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

HANGOUT

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

LOLLAPALOOZA

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

OUTSIDE LANDS

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

ULTRA

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

2012

2016

Source: HuffPost analysis of festival lineups. Note: For fewer than 1 percent of the acts in festival lineups in the last five years, we could not determine the gender breakdown, and those acts are not included in these charts. Read our methodology.

Festival organizers often point to scheduling issues and musical genres to explain why there are so few women performing at American music festivals. But in talking with women in the industry, HuffPost found that the truth is much more complicated. From the subtle distaste for the musical genres that women dominate most to more overt instances of sexism, the gender dynamics of music festivals say a lot about our society at large. Read the whole story to find out why there are so few women performing at festivals.